Method of and apparatus for dispensing fluent materials



June 18, 196 I. 5. H. STEWART 3,383,332

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR DISPENSING FLUENT MATERIALS Filed Oct. 18, 1966 FIGURE 2. FIGURE 3. fine-Wives aawmmx United States Patent 3,388,832 METHOD 0F AND APPARATUS FOR DlSPENlNG FLUENT MATERIALS Iain G. H. Stewart, North Rand, Transvaal, and Michael S. Hunt, Lombardy East, Transvaal, Republic of South Africa, assiguors to African Explosives and Chemical Industries Limited, Johannesburg, Transvaal, Republic of South Africa Filed Get. 18, 1%6, Ser. No. 587,554

Claims priority, application Republic of South Africa,

Get. 22, 1965, 65/5,701

17 (Ilaims. (Cl. 222--1) ABSTRACT OF THE DISLOSURE Method and apparatus for dispensing fluent materials such as slurried explosives from a container. A collapsible container is secured within a vessel and pressure fluid is applied against the outside of the container to collapse the same and force the material therein into a plurality of orifices in a delivery conduit communicating with the interior of the container and discharging outwardly of the vessel. The delivery conduit within the container is provided with vanes which are equipped with apertures that coincide with the orifices to facilitate passage of the material into the orifices and through the conduit for discharge as the container is collapsed.

This invention relates to a method of and apparatus for dispensing fluent materials from containers, more particularly materials in the form of flowable, coherent masses.

In modern mining and quarrying practice, the use of slurried explosives mixtures for blasting purposes has been gaining increasing favour. The usual method employed for charging boreholes with these explosives mixtures has been to pour the mixtures into the boreholes directly from containers or through pipes or hoses or by inserting plastic bags containing the explosives mixtures into the boreholes. While these methods may be sufficiently adaptable in charging boreholes of large diameter, they are inappropriate for loading boreholes of smaller diameters, especially where such boreholes are situated in positions difficult to approach or are at angles awkward for the operator to load. The development of slurried explosives mixtures has emphasized the growing necessity for improving borehole loading procedures.

It is an object of this invention to minimise the disadvantages inherent in present ways of charging boreholes with slurried explosives mixtures.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a method of and an apparatus for loading boreholes more easily under difiicult mining conditions.

This invention therefore provides a method for dispensing fluent materials from flexible containers consisting in enclosing a container of the material within an opentopped vessel, securing the opened neck of the container within the vessel, sealing the vessel in fluid-tight manner by means of a removable closure member for the vessel, admitting pressure fluid through an inlet to the vessel to the space defined by the inner surface of the vessel and the outer surface of the container, inducing collapse of the container onto a delivery conduit communicating through the closure member with the interior of the container and ejecting the material through the conduit via a plurality of orifices located along its length within the container.

In performing the method of the invention, the opened neck of the container may be secured around the top of the vessel to seal it in fluid-tight engagement therewith by means of the removable closure member for the vessel.

3,388,832 Patented June 18, 1968 The invention further provides apparatus for dispensing fluent materials from flexible containers comprising an open-topped vessel to receive a container of the material, a removable closure member for the vessel to seal it in fluid tight manner, an inlet to the vessel to admit pressure fluid to the space defined by the inner surface of the vessel and the outer surface of the container and a elivery conduit communicating through the closure memher with the interior of the container, the delivery conduit having a plurality of orifices located along its length below the closure member within the container.

The removable closure member may be adapted to cover the opened neck of the container to secure it around the perimeter of the top of the vessel and seal it in fluid tight engagement therewith.

In any embodiment of this invention, the vessel is of suitable strength and rigidity to withstand the forces imposed on it by the pressure fluid. The removable closure member or lid, capable of sealing the vessel in a fluid tight manner, is fitted with a delivery conduit or pipe which terminates above and, preferably, adjacent the floor of the vessel. The conduit has a plurality of orifices located along its length below the closure. The opposite end of the conduit for discharging the contents of the container from the vessel may be any suitable distance from the outer surface of the closure and the length of the conduit may be increased by providing connecting means on its discharge end for joining it to other pipes and delivery devices.

The delivery conduit may be provided with longi tudinally extending vanes, which are fixed to or are integral with the conduit along its length below the closure member. Preferably, three vanes at an angle of about degrees to each other are employed for the reason that their surface area approximates substantially to that of the wall of the container.

These vanes may be provided with apertures of any suitable configuration such as a rectangular slot shape. The apertures may be spaced symmetrically above and apart from each other in each vane. To assist the fluid movement of the material in the container under the influence of the pressure exerted by the collapsing walls of the container when pressure fluid enters the vessel, it is considered desirable that each aperture be in register with an orifice in the delivery conduit.

An inlet for pressure fluid is provided on the wall of the vessel or on its base, the inlet being connected to a source of pressure fluid when in use. A pressure relief valve is associated with the pressure fluid inlet, the pressure fluid being, preferably, compressed air.

A convenient material of which the container may be made in the exercise of this invention is a flexible material, such as a yieldable plastics material.

According to a practical application of this invention, an opened container or bag holding a quantity of a slurried explosives mixture is placed within the open vessel. The vessel is then sealed by means of the closure member or lid, the delivery conduit extending downwardly into the mixture and terminating within the container adjacent the floor of the vessel.

In sealing the vessel, the opened neck of the container is secured around the top of the vessel to seal it in fluidtight engagement therewith. Pressure fluid, which may be compressed air, is admitted from a source of supply through the inlet into the vessel. The container collapses towards and around the delivery conduit, forcing the mixture to enter the conduit through the orifices along its length to be delivered by its discharge end into the borehole in which that end has been inserted.

The operator may connect the discharge end of the conduit to other pipes or delivery devices for charging one borehole or two or more boreholes simultaneously.

It has been found that a suitable extension for the delivery conduit is a flexible hose having at one end a rigid plastic or metal tube for insertion to the blind end of a borehole. The tube may be marked at regularly spaced-apart intervals. As the mixture being delivered or extruded fills the hole and displaces the tube from it, the operator is able by this visual means to estimate the depth to which the hole has been filled before interrupting or stopping the admission of pressure fluid to the vessel. Excess pressure in the vessel may be automatically relieved through a valve associated with the pressure fluid inlet.

The delivery of slurried explosives mixtures from the vessel may be remotely controlled by valve or other means sited on the downstream side of the delivery conduit or any extension thereof. The delivery of these mixtures may also be remotely controlled by pressure fluid inlet control means remotely situated from the vessel.

Depending on the size of the ves;el and the cortairer used in relaton to the sizes of boreholes being charged, several boreholes may be charged from one filled container. Furthermore, almost continuous charging of boreholes may be achieved by the alternate preparation and operation of more than one vessel. By increasing the speed of borehole charging operations in this manner, the safety aspect of using slurried explosives mixtures is not jeopardized and blasting costs should tend to be reduced.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference is made to the following drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 illustrates an embodiment of the apparatus made in accordance withthe invention and is a sectional view of such apparatus.

FIGURE 2 is a cross sectional view of the apparatus taken on line 22 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is another sectional view of the upper part of the apparatus to illustrate an alternative way of securing the opened neck of a container within a vessel.

Similar parts are indicated by the same numerals. In FIGURE 1, the open-topped vessel 1 has a cylindrical wall 2 with an integral base 3. While the vessel may assume any desired shape, it is preferred to employ a cylindrical form as shown in FIGURE 2, principally for the reason of ease of manufacture. The vessel may be supported in an upright position by means of legs 4 extending horizontally from the base 3. At least three such legs are required, following normal engineering practice.

The vessel 1 is fitted with a removable closure member or lid 5 in the side wall of which is an external, annular groove 6 to accommodate a flexible or resilient O- ring to ensure an air tight seal between vessel 1 and closure member 5. A conduit 7 passes through the closure member 5 and extends downwards through the interior, and substantially co-axially of, the vessel 1 to a position adjacent the floor of the base 3. The floor may be planar. Preferably, the fioor slopes from the wall 2 towards a central well 8, within which is located the upstream end of the conduit 7.

As may be seen in FIGURES 1 and 2, that portion of the conduit, which is below the closure member 5, is provided with longitudinally extending vanes 9. In the embodiment of the apparatus shown in FIGURE 1, these vanes are provided on the conduit 7 for most of its length below the closure member and have apertures or slots 10, each of which is in register with an orifice 11 in the wall of the conduit 7 to provide access to the bore of the conduit from the interior of the vessel 1. Normally there will be no necessity for the upstream end of the conduit to be open and, in the illustration of the embodiment of the apparatus given in FIGURE 1, the bore of the conduit 7 adjacent the floor of the base 3 is blind.

The downstream end 12 of the conduit 7 is suitably shaped or reduced in diameter for insertion into the end of a pipe or other delivery device. Alternatively the end 12 may be provided with a suitable connecting means (not shown) for joining it to another pipe.

An inlet 13 for pressure fluid is provided on the wall 2 of the vessel 1. The inlet 13 is in communication with a pressure relief valve 14, a pressure gauge 15 and a device 16 for venting the interior of the vessel 1 to atmosphere.

Numeral 17 in FIGURES 1 and 2 indicates a container positioned within the, vessel 1. The container 17, which is opened, is placed within the vessel 1 and the opened neck of the container is secured to the perimeter of the vessel by means of the closure member 5. The opened neck of the container 17 is folded over the top of the perimeter of the Wall-2 as shown in FIGURE 1 and compressed between the wall and the fitted closure member 5 to ensure an air tight seal.

FIGURE 3 illustrates another manner of securing the opened neck of the container 17 around the upper portion of the conduit 7 below the closure member 5. As shown in this modified version of securing the container inside the vessel, the neck of the container is tied to the conduit by means of any suitable fastening material such as string or wire 18. The manner of securing the container shown in FIGURE 3 enables the inlet 13 to be provided on the closure member 5 instead of on the wall 2 or on the base 3 of the vessel 1.

The closure member 5 is retained firmly in position to seal the open end of the vessel 1 by lever 19 pivoted as at 20. FIGURES l and 3 each show a lever of simplified design but any suitable design or type of retention member may be used and there may be more than one such lever on modified embodiments of the apparatus.

In operation, an opened container 17 of a slurried explosives mixture is placed inside the open vessel 1. The container is secured with the vessel as previously described. The closure member 5 is securely fitted over the opening of the vessel and firmly retained in position by the lever 19. In closing the vessel, the conduit 7 of the closure member will have been pushed through the slurried mixture in the container and will be in the position substantially as shown in FIGURE 1.

A flexible hose (not shown), which is connected to the end 12 of the conduit 7 is inserted into a borehole, which has to be blasted, and compressed air is fed from a source (not shown) to the vessel 1 through the inlet means 13. The slurried mixture enters the conduit 7 through its entrance 11 and is conveyed through the conduit and the connected pipe into the borehole. When the borehole has been fully charged, the operator relieves the pressure in the Vessel by manipulating the air pressure controls leading to inlet means 13. The pipe is then removed from the borehole to another borehole and the charging procedure is repeated. On emptying the contents of a container 17, the supply of compressed air is cut oif and the vessel is vented to atmosphere through the device 16. The closure member 5 is removed and the apparatus is reloaded as before.

While the invention has been described by reference to its use in charging boreholes with slurried explosives mixtures, its utility and value are not confined to such use and the invention covers all applications to which it may be put and which fall within the spirit and scope of the claims.

We claim:

1. Method for dispensing fluent materials from flexible containers consisting in enclosing an opened neck container of the material within an open topped vessel, securing the opened neck of the container within the vessel, sealing the vessel in fluid tight manner by means of a removable closure member for the vessel, positioning a delivery conduit having a plurality of orifices located along its length through said closure member and the opened neck of said container so that said orifices are within the container and the conduit extends outwardly from said vessel for material discharge, admitting pressure fluid through an inlet to the vessel to the space defined by the inner surface of the vessel and the outer surface of the container, inducing collapse of the container by means of said fluid pressure onto said delivery conduit within said container and thereby ejecting the material through the conduit via said orifices and releasing excess pressure in the space defined by the inner surface of the vessel and the outer surface of the container through pressure release associated with the inlet for admitting said pressure fluid.

2. Method as claimed in claim 1 in which the opened neck of the container is secured around the top of the vessel to seal it in fluid-tight engagement therewith by means of the removable closure member for the vessel.

3. Method as claimed in claim 1 in which the conduit conveying the material being ejected from the container terminates within the container adjacent the floor of the vessel.

4. Method as claimed in claim 1 in which the material in the container is divided into separate sections spaced according to the orifices in said delivery conduit and the material in each section is moved along a predetermined path for registry with said orifices before being forced into said orifices for ejection from said conduit.

5. Method as claimed in claim 1 in which the pressure fluid is compressed air.

6. Method as claimed in claim 1 in which the discharge end of the delivery conduit is connected to other delivery means of the ejected material from the conduit.

7. Method as claimed in claim 1 in which the collapsible container is a bag made of yieldable plastics material.

8. Method as claimed in claim 1 in which the fluent material is a slurried blasting explosives mixture.

9. Apparatus for dispensing fluent materials from flexible containers comprising an open topped vessel to receive a container of the material, a removable closure member for the vessel to seal it in fluid-tight manner, an inlet to the vessel to admit pressure fluid to the space defined by the inner surface of the vessel and the outer surface of the container and a delivery conduit communicating through the closure member with the interior of the container, the delivery conduit having a plurality of orifices located along its length below the closure member within the container and a plurality of longitudinally extending vanes along its length below the closure member within the flexible container, each vane being provided with apertures in register with the orifices in the delivery conduit.

10. Apparatus as claimed in claim 9 in which the removable closure member is adapted to cover the opened neck of the container to secure it around the perimeter of the top of the vessel and seal it in fluid-tight engagement therewith.

11. Apparatus as claimed in claim 9 in which the delivery conduit terminates within the container adjacent the floor of the vessel.

12. Apparatus as claimed in claim 9 in which pressure relief means is associated with the inlet for pressure fluid.

13. Apparatus as claimed in claim 9 in which the pressure fluid is compressed air.

14. Apparatus as claimed in claim 9 in which connecting means is provided on the discharge end of the delivery conduit for joining it to other delivery means.

15. Apparatus as claimed in claim 9 in which the flexible container is a bag made of yieldable plastics material.

16. Apparatus as claimed in claim 9 in which the fluent materials are slurried blasting explosives mixtures.

17. Method for dispensing fluent materials from flexible containers which comprises placing an opened neck container of the material within an open topped vessel, fixing the container in said vessel, sealing the open top of the vessel with a removable closure member and positioning a material delivery conduit having a plurality of orifices located along its length downwardly through the opened neck of the container so that said orifices are located within said container and the conduit extends outwardly through said closure member to provide a material discharge, dividing the material in said container into a plurality of separate sections extending essentially the length of said container, collapsing said container by the application of fluid pressure in the space between the inner surface of the vessel and the outer surface of the container, directing the material in said container as the latter is collapsed, along a predetermined and guided path into zones registering with said orifices and then into and through said orifices and through said delivery conduit for ejection by continuing the collapse of said container.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,384,296 7/1921 Baumgardner 222-3865 X 1,674,515 6/1928 Johnson 222386.5 2,659,516 11/1953 Smith 222386.5 X 2,865,541 12/1958 Hicks 222386.5 3,067,810 12/1962 Mozio 222-386.5 X

SAMUEL F. COLEMAN, Primary Examiner. 

